The Amazing History of Toothpick

The Amazing History of Toothpick

   4:25 AM       Journel Cabrillos

---

Who would have thought something as simple as a wooden stick was commercialized by someone who made vast wealth for it?

Toothpicks from a Shake-a-pick Dispenser

The humble toothpick, a material specifically designed to, well, pick up food stuck between your teeth (but there are other uses to it too), is in every restaurant, eatery, or house today. What started this journey of this simple product and who pioneered on this business?

A Portrait of Forster from a Blogpost (The Invisible Woman by Claire Tomalin in film and biography: An impression of Victorianism )

Throughout the entire history, people have been using toothpicks strictly for personal use. They used silvers of wood, bones, quills, etc. Up until the 1860's no one has ever had the slightest idea that money can be made by selling this material. Charles Forster of Strong, Maine, once on a trip to South America, saw natives pick their teeth using wood. He then handcrafted his own toothpick and brought samples back in his homeland.

But then, how could Forster make good fortune from something that can be easily made, used once, and then discarded? Being a marketing genius, he devised a strategy to get customers to recognize the product.He began in small retail stores. When he couldn't place his product in the stores, he would hire people to ask for toothpicks in the store. The store retailers naturally rejected their customers' requests, and then realized what a great product a toothpick was. Forster finally penetrated into the retail stores but that's not the end. He would still hire people to buy a box of toothpicks and then those people returned the boxes to Forster who then resold to the retailers, thus reinforcing the "demand" for toothpicks. By that time, the retailers were now prepared to advertise the new product to real, un-hired customers.

Forster did the same strategy on restaurants which quickly rose the toothpicks' popularity, because people who dined in wouldn't have to bring their own or wait to be at home to get rid of the food in their teeth, or better yet, use their own tongue.

Several years later, the toothpick became so popular that it did not just serve its intended purpose but also as a status symbol. Chewing toothpicks became fashionable among well-to-do men, followed by the chewing of toothpicks by women. at that time chewing toothpick indicated that they had just eaten in a fine dining area.

Finally, the first machine that mass produced toothpicks was patented by Silas Noble, and J.P. Cooley, of Massachusetts. And from then on, one can never finish a meaty meal without a toothpick on the table.